Dragon's Descent revised
by Porthos112
Summary: In the far past, an Elder from a fleeing tribe managed to gain the curse of a God. Now she is reborn each time her tribe is threatened to battle that which they cannot defeat. This is Khu Lon's tale. Small additions and corrections made.


Disclaimer:- It is not my intention at any point in time to lay claim to the rights or privileges of the owners of Ranma-chan, or his cohorts in crime. I am but a lowly fan fiction writer. Any attempt to sue me will be found to be futile, as I am very poor. If you would like to change that fact at any point in time, please, please, please; sell me rights to Ranma half for one cent US. Okay, back to reality, I suppose its back to the check-outs for me.

**Prologue**

A long time ago when both Gods and Daemon kind walked the land. There once lived a people, they were a proud people who had raised a great nation. But as is often the case with great pride, it comes before a fall. For those people it was when they believed themselves strong enough to destroy their Gods they had conquered their neighbours. Their God showed no pity, as the people he had once protected sought his demise, He began with the destruction of their armies, and then lay waste the great cities. Until no man woman or child lived in that land. No two stones stood one atop the other, and what was once manmade was rendered unto dust. Not satisfied he began to pursue those who had fled, as they had not given up trying to defeat him, their pride undiminished. For a thousand years these people ran, now there is no-where to go.

Now we must face our greatest adversary. And it may not be who we think it is.

This is my tale; it is both an ending and a beginning. I ask, do you believe in re-incarnation? I do, I know it's true first hand. How you might ask. Put simply I remember. I remember each and every time it has happened to me. From the very first time when an angry God cursed me for my part in these events. I no longer fear death. No what I fear is rebirth, as each time I have been called back to life it has been to protect my people from some great disaster that they cannot on their own face. This last time was different; the threat I was to face was dealt with by another. A mere youth has done what I should have, had I been in time. But I digress; every tale must start at its beginning.

**"Dragon's descent"**

**Chapter 1 **

The wrath of God.

The sky to the west shone a deep eerie red. No flame was responsible for that disturbing glow though. Fire had not been a possibility, the people had watched as thunderclouds had piled up into the western sky higher and darker than any seen before, the clouds had closed in days before and unleashed a downpour like none they had ever seen. Days later the rain still fell. Then the wind came driving an almost solid wall of water against any surface that might resist. Trees were ripped whole from the softened ground and thrown into the sky; the thick outer walls had crumbled in seconds like sandcastles on the beach washed away by the waves. The buildings of the village fared little better; thin walls had broken at ground level then been cart-wheeled across the clearing. Breaking up against the better protected homes in the center of the village, but even those could not survive the relentless pounding of the wind and water. Then the wind whipped into the cellars that had been exposed and scoured them out until there were slightly more than a hundred small craters in the soil. In a matter of moments a village that had stood for near a decade was gone, all traces scoured from the land, leaving not even a foundation to tell of its passing.

No mortal eye saw the destruction however, for we had known such was its fate. We had built a much sturdier fortress into the mountains behind our village. Though we could not see the destruction wrought outside, we could feel it, as the storms fury shook the very foundation of this our new mountain home. Mothers hugged small children to their breasts hoping to give a little comfort to the frightened children, fervently wishing that there was such comfort for themselves.

Despair had fallen over all within the citadel. Guards stood at the entrance bracing iron bound doors as the wind funneled up the narrow passage that was the only entrance to the fortress and threatened to break the locking bars and pins that held it in place. They'd had no time to build escape routes, all their time had been spent in carving the living space needed, stores and armories had been tunneled through the living rock, and repositories for the tribes' knowledge had been constructed. Inside these rooms none of the cries of the terrified children and women could be heard, as the howl of the storm penetrated to the very depths of the earth, and threatened to shatter the skies above with the noise.

In the ante-room of the fortress many warriors gathered, they knew it would be futile, but if they must die the Gods would know they had not cowered in their beds. The Gods would hear their challenge even as they died man, woman and child. One such warrior approached a diminutive figure that stood at the far side of the room. The Elder was perched upon a four foot staff of black oak. A tree that only grew in the remotest parts of the mountain range they presently lived near.

"Elder, we should attempt to evacuate any non-combatants."

The small figure tilted its head to one side as if considering the officers words.

"Where would you have them go? Even if there was a way He would just hunt them down. Our mothers and children could not travel far or fast enough to be safe, not with that storm. And then with our warriors and knowledge gone they would have to face Him again. No I fear this is the end. We must face Him here, we must, we have no alternative."

"But... Elder we..." The officer had gone white at her Elders words.

"It's no longer a matter of but. He has hunted us for more than a thousand years. Do you really think when he has reduced our once proud people to this remnant that He would relent? We have run across the known world, and still He comes. He has leveled every city, every town and finally every village that we have ever made. The nation we left behind is no longer remembered by any that once called us neighbor. Most do not even remember why we earned His wrath. Our God has not only forsaken us he has destroyed all trace that we ever existed. Now we make our final stand. Where millions of souls could not stop Him, we a mere few hundred must succeed."

"But Elder, He is a God of war, Asg...!!" She got no further as the elder raised a wizened fist and waved it at the youngster almost casually. The officer blinked once as an unseen force picked her up and threw her across the room.

"Silence fool!! Lest you call His attention upon us. We the Elders are not ready to face Him yet; we must prepare what defenses we can against Him. Do you understand?"

The young officer rose and shook her head, the blow had not been hard, and she had to acknowledge it had been merciful. She could have been killed for such a stupid slip of the tongue, and certainly would have been if He had heard and come to her. She knelt on the ground and placed her forehead to the cold stone. "I understand Elder. I beg your pardon for my foolishness. I just meant to point out that we have tried to kill Him a hundred times in the last millennia, how can so few accomplish what so many have failed to do?" She raised her head so she could meet the ancient wise eyes of the elder.

"You learn wisdom child, as do we. In our arrogance we attempted to kill a God, none may do this unless they also are a God. We have failed because we were never that strong. Now we must try something new, I can only hope we have learned wisdom in time."

Outside the storm intensified as if enraged at finding after all it had destroyed it had not killed a single being. Above the village a black vortex appeared slowly from the cloud-base and descended to the ground. Lightning shot down forming a coruscating curtain of light that hid the base of the tornado from view. Each bolt blasted a crater into the softened ground throwing debris and boiling mud across the clearing. Then the light receded and the wind fell to a gentle breeze, rain ceased to fall from the heavens as if a mighty bucket had finally reached its bottom and could no longer douse the land with ice cold water. The tornado lost focus and slowly expanded outwards losing cohesion at ground level as it disappeared back into the now calm sky. Above the clouds parted and showed that what before had seemed like the darkest night was in fact a beautiful summers day.

Down below the clearing was no longer empty, for there in the centre of what once had been the village stood a man. If any had been near they would have bowed to this man. It was not the fact that he was twelve feet tall, or that he was well muscled. It was not that his eyes shone a blazing sapphire blue, beneath his red gold hair. No there was something more, a majestic aura beyond that of kings or emperors. This man was power incarnate, his aura was visibly pulsing around him, a bright red that extended several feet from his body and then a more subtle aura that encompassed a few hundred feet in all directions in less visible spectrums. He stood erect, dressed in a lightweight armor that seemed to be made of gold, each link in his chain-mail exquisitely crafted; the plates that protected vulnerable spots were graven with scenes of greatest beauty even though they depicted scenes of battle. Any who attacked him would be loathe to mar this armors' perfect finish even if they could dispel the certainty that they would fail. Across his back hung a sword that was at least eight feet in length, its scabbard etched with similar scenes to those that adorned his amour. If any mortal could read the runes upon the cross-guard of the sword they would have read the name 'Asgaroth'. Stated simply he was God.

Asgaroth stood in the very centre of the clearing watching all around for any sign that he might be attacked. He was quite angry, as those he hunted had once again managed to flee his justice. No one could say that the attention span of the Gods is short, or maybe it is, in comparison to the fact they live for eternity, He had waited a thousand years to deal with the last of these people. In His own mind He had not called them by their nations name for nearly the whole time they had been at war. He had decided that He would pass his final judgment on his people then he would return to his home in the heavens. He now understood those Gods that chose to stay in the 'Realm of Gods', they saw what mortals were capable of and refused to participate. After standing still for almost an hour Asgaroth blinked, turning His head He looked at the nearby mountains, and decided they were as good a place as any to start his search. Striding off towards the foothills, He neither noticed or cared that he left no tracks behind Himself, no ripple in the numerous puddles, no blade of grass bent at His passing and even the softest mud was left with no impression of His iron shod feet.

Deep inside the very core of the mountain, there was a small temple. The room was only ten meters long and maybe half as wide. Against the wall furthest from the door there stood a stone altar carved from the blackest obsidian, no carving or etching adorned said altar. No God would be called to this stone, for had their God come he would have been their death. Even so the stone held great power, for the past hundred years the Elders that neared passing would sacrifice themselves, passing their life energies not into the 'Great Void' to await rebirth, but instead they had thrown themselves into the crystalline structure of this black stone. The power thrummed in the stone, almost vibrating the air to some unknown heartbeat. The present Council of Elders knew that it would still not be enough. Thus the six Elders gathered around the altar in the small chamber and had their final conclave.

"We can not prevail. There is not enough power to win this battle. Even unto the last of our life's energy we would fail." The first elder spoke.

"True. If only there had been more time we might have done better." The council's second speaker followed her leader.

I had my doubts but none here wished to hear my counsel. Each time I tried to reason with them they turned from me in scorn, calling me coward. They perceived my plan as weakness and would have none of it. For what did I know was I not the youngest in the room? And thus I became the last speaker on the council.

Third speaker was next, she made eye contact with each of us then she uttered a thing I had never thought to hear. "There may be a way, for the good of the tribe."

"What do you mean Third, what can we do at this juncture?" First played her part, it was truly her plan but none should know that if she had her way.

"First, each of the Elder's sacrificed was at the end of their life. The energy gathered was not as great as it might have been. Each was near to their full potential and thus had little to spare."

"You speak the obvious, what point do you wish to make Third?" Second sounded impatient, they had not the time for this, He would almost certainly find them here in mere hours and they must prepare what little they could.

"There is a chance we could gather much greater energy if the sacrifice had been from those with their full potential ahead of them."

"What do you speak of!?"

"Sixth, you are out of line, you will apologize for your breach immediately!!" First speaker flushed in anger at the untimely interruption. I would have none of it though.

"I will not! You can not mean to sacrifice the children!! They are the future of our people!" I had gone pale as I realized where this talk was going. I could also tell that some had already firmed their resolve to do the unspeakable.

"You think I wish this? We have no choice, if we do nothing there will be no future, and these children will not have anything to inherit! The times are beyond desperate, and I fear we must do this. Not all shall perish though, only a very few shall be needed. Such a small thing, five lives to save more than a thousand." Third spoke with passion, anyone who looked in her eyes would see that she had almost convinced even herself.

"You will damn us for all eternity with this folly. Can you not see, in all our history we have never truly entered into the shadows? With this you will cause us to go forever from the light. Darkness is all that I see on this path. Please I beg you reconsider." I had not cried in sixty years, now the tears fell. I could not stop them as one by one the other Elders cast their vote against me. Each turned their back upon me. Before the last of them turned away she spoke.

"You shame us with your cowardice; you are no Elder of this tribe. You are nothing! Go, you are no longer of the tribe, you are dead to us. May you find peace in what remains of your miserable existence, for should we prevail against Him we will come for you, and you shall die." First then turned away as I sat stunned, they had done the one thing I had never believed they would do. I rose from my knees, knees which now shook with emotion, emotions I could not halt.

"I will go. But before I do you will hear me and mark my words. You have doomed yourselves. You seal your deaths and those of the tribe with this. I place upon you a curse, if you do this that you would do. You shall fail, utterly; your souls shall twist in the gates of time, never to know peace until you can find it within yourself. All that you have caused to be shall be brought home to roost. Thus I Sixth speaker of our people leave you." I turned towards the doors and leaning heavily on my staff I left the stony silence behind me. The weight of my despair caused me to stumble as I passed beneath the stone portal to the temple, I needed the cane now more than ever before.

When I had finally made my way to the outer levels of our fortress I began to notice the silence had spread, and for a moment I failed to realize what it meant. The sounds of the storm had passed, and the mountain no longer reverberated to its fury. I did not care what it might mean; only the thought that I was no longer of the tribe drove me now. For now I must leave this place, I made my way slowly to the ante-chamber and there looked upon our final phalanx of warriors. Each in their most splendid armor, though it be a mere shadow of the glory that adorned the warriors of past generations.

The young officer who had spoken to me before rushed over to me.

"Elder, what is the councils bidding?" She looked at me anxiously; she could tell I had news of great import.

"You may never call me that again child. The council has cast me out because I would not follow their lead." Those soldiers nearest me exclaimed in surprise at my words, to my pride none turned their attention from their post though.

"How? They could not do this at this time; we need you more than ever now."

"I know child, I know. But I could not be part of what they planned." Down the passage I had come from all could hear an anguished scream, as if the woman responsible had had her very soul torn from her body. In some ways it was the truth, if what I suspected was truly happening.

"What was that?" Down the passage the screams of anguish continued, joined now by others, and many outraged voices rose to protest, but as I knew the Elders were set on their path I also knew it was to no avail.

"The elders have started their plan. They have taken five children to the temple; there they will sacrifice them for their potential power." Gasps of outrage could now be heard as I had spoken loud enough to be heard in the farthest reaches of the entrance cavern. "I must leave now, but I will do what I can for you, even if they call me outcast, in my heart you are my children. I will do what I can." I repeated as I moved forward towards the distant doors, as I approached the rear of the phalanx the young officer behind me called out orders.

"Companies!! Atten-shuuun!!" Several hundred boot heels rang on the stone of the cavern.

"Companies 2&4 right, face!!" The soldiers to my left turned to face their sisters, "Companies 1&3 left, face!!" Those to my right turned so that they faced their sisters now eye to eye.

"Companies parade inspection!!" The soldiers before me stepped back both to left and right in a perfectly executed maneuver several hundred feet stepped at the same moment, then again and again, leaving between the two facing ranks a corridor of empty space that led directly to the barred doors of our citadel. I stepped forward again slowly making my way between these walls of Impassive warriors.

"Company salute!!" The tears began to fall in earnest, and the far door blurred into non-existence as I heard several hundred fists strike their chest armor, each warrior cried "HAIL!!!"

The gatekeepers ahead had withdrawn the bars that held the gates shut and had pushed each leaf of the doors forward to their full extent. The observant may have noticed the way the door hinges were protected by the very rock of the mountain, or that the doors were laid in such a way that one third their width was supported by the inner lip of stone so that if any brought force against them they would have to beat the very mountain down around themselves to do it. None of this held any meaning to me. As I passed through the ranks of my people, I did not look back even as one last time they cried "HAIL!!!" The sounds of fist against chest armor echoed hollowly in my ears, and were echoed yet again as the massive iron doors were swung closed and barred against me.

If I had turned I would have seen a wall of metal before me, the join between halves so fine that the thinnest blade ever created would not slip through. These I knew would do fine to stop a mortal foe, but that which we faced was not mortal. Where man must attack the only weakness visible, a God need only reach forth his hands and pull the mountain down around us. For saying such did I lose favour. I walked the darkened tunnel towards distant sunlight.

As I neared the end of the tunnel I squinted against the brightness, I had expected less in the way of light, but as is often the case with Gods the rules are changeable. My eyes cleared as I walked out onto the hillside for the first time in nearly two months, nothing much had changed except that when I turned around to view what had been my home one last time I saw the now irregular opening looked nothing more than a cave entrance. As if that would fool Him, He knew us too well, had he not been our God for millennia untold? The Elders proved themselves fools again and again; I saw no change in their actions over the last hundred years. Our Chieftains had started the war with Asgaroth but they perpetuated it, even as they could see we could not prevail.

Turning back to the valley I found that I could see a long distance. With the added vantage of a few hundred meters above the valley I could see as far as the mountains that had hemmed our valley in. If I squinted I could even make out the place where our village had once been. As I could see the village was gone, I hadn't really expected anything else. He had been nothing but thorough in his destruction of my people. Below me lay a small forest, the trunks of its trees like serried spears of silver, topped with foliage of a bright spring green. On another day I would have taken pleasure in the moisture that sparkled upon almost every surface, like a million diamonds shooting back the suns light.

Something moved below me, taking a sharp breath I held it in the hopes it was not what I thought. But it was in vain, for below me in His golden armor stood Asgaroth. Even though I had never seen Him I knew Him, for though no graven image of Him had been kept for nearly 800 years, the knowledge of who he was; it was engraved in our very souls. Looking upon this massive being I could feel no anger or hate for Him, for had we not been the ones to betray Him? Had our forebears not believed they could match Him in power? How could they have been such fools, could they not feel Him? Even though he was still below me and more than half a mile away I could still feel His presence, it was more than what my eyes could see. No, I could feel His presence wash against me in an almost physical way, the energy he possessed washed around me, sensing me, learning me. Below I could see his leonine head turn towards me, he did not need to see me to know I was here, but I did not doubt for one second that he had seen my small form at the top of the rise. Even in my grey robes and with a mountain at my back I knew he looked me straight in the eye. Now he walked directly towards me never once breaking contact, He did not change His measured pace not even on the uneven terrain. I could feel Him push against my mind as my shields buckled, He was not even trying to break them, it was just a matter of His closeness to me. If He had really wished I knew He could crush my mind with the greatest of ease. As He neared the base of the hill I knew it would not be long before He sensed my people in their mountain fastness. I would not be the one who betrayed them, but in my heart I felt it was only a matter of time before He found their last hiding place. I decided that I had to move, so I chose to move towards my destiny. If He chose to kill me I knew that it would only have been a matter of time before it would come to pass. By meeting Him half way I felt I had some measure of control in my life even as said control spiraled away from me.

Asgaroth was approaching the base of the nearest mountain to the village of His people when He felt a small energy on the very edge of His perception. It had been a very dark energy, the life's final energy. And if He didn't know better He would have thought it was a blood sacrifice, He had known that many of the peoples Elders had chosen to do this to supply the living with a weapon against Him. Did they not realize that it was futile; His energy was not bound, meaning that all He could imagine was what He could do. Then the second pulse of energy was released magnifying the first, it felt wrong, something about the energy roused His curiosity and maybe His anger. He could not put his mental finger on why it was so just yet, but He would. He began to walk towards the energy pulses that he could feel, the mountain that it seemed to be coming from was only a little further away from where he was currently heading.

Even as He began to stride towards His new destination He felt a third energy burn bright and then fade, again it joined the others, multiplying the energy store far beyond the small amount that had been released. Now he could feel the energy store. It was like a lodestone, He could feel it pull Him.

Watching the astral plane He could see a pillar of energy leap into the sky, He had not seen it before because the energy had been pale, the energy had been given freely; this new energy was different, torn from unwilling flesh it was filled with a darkness that had never before been present.

Then the realisation of what He saw hit Him, they had sacrificed their young, were sacrificing them. These were the last of His people, and if He had anything to say they would be the last. They had gone beyond the bounds of any act they had ever committed. This went beyond even their betrayal of Himself, for this was evil in the truest sense of the word, this act would have repercussions far beyond their ability to calculate.

He could feel the barriers between worlds thinning already, the one between earth and hell was gone in a local area maybe fifty feet across, with the fourth sacrifice he felt the barrier between hell and the nether hells disintegrate. If much more power were to accumulate they would all be in true trouble, unless of course they were extremely lucky, He'd already felt some minor entities cross the thresh-hold between the dimensions. Then the fifth and as He would later learn final sacrifice was made and the energy node in front of Him pulsed and the wall into the Abyssal dimension took a direct hit but the energy had not punched through, just enough to seriously weaken the barrier.

Then to His horror He felt the wall struck from the other side, then again and again until it began to crumble.

He felt the being stare across the dimensions as if unable to believe it was free after so many aeons, and then it stepped into the Nether Hell and watched in amusement as its much weaker denizens fled in terror. Reaching out almost casually it picked a struggling Djinni and bit its arm off. It could have been its head but then the terror it was feeding off would cease. Then it continued to mangle the unfortunate Djinn, causing great pain and anguish, the daemon continued to feed even as it formed a link similar to the ones it had with some of its other victims from its own dimension. With a final twist it threw the now unrecognisable Djinn to the ground, and with what could only be called an evil leer it stalked more prey.

Back on the earth plane Asgaroth had accelerated towards me faster than any creature I had ever seen, one moment He was several hundred yards away and the next He was almost upon me. I quailed at His approach, and then He stopped almost instantly.

"Come with me elder if you wish to live. The foolish council your people are led by will be responsible for the deaths of everybody. In their hubris they've opened a portal to the abyssal plane, and one of the nastier creatures has escaped into the nether hells. We must find a way to stop them and close the portal, so that he may not enter into the Earth plane.

Then the Godling continued to charge up the hill towards the entrance to the caverns. I turned to watch him go, and even as he made it halfway. I could see the council of elders exit the cave-mouth. They moved unhurriedly down the slope. From the cave-mouth issued the remaining forces of my people, they marched four a-breast as they followed the elders down the hill. As the Elder moved in front of Asgaroth, both they and Asgaroth stopped to confront each other. Behind the elders the Warriors formed ranks. To any of the local tribes, they would have been impressive, in their steel and leather armour. Their assorted weapon edges glinted in the sunlight as they drew them with the ringing hiss of steel on steel. (For anybody who knows history you would know that over 3000 years ago in fact, it is true as of up to almost 2000 years ago. Most weapons were made of copper or brass; some unlucky nations were even still using stone. This should give you some idea of the advantages this nation had once had.)

"So you've come to us foolish Godling, and you've even brought our traitor back to us." She cackled as she spoke, it sent a tiny shiver down my spine. I had never heard her sound like that, as if she skirted the very edges of madness.

"I have not come here to bandy words with you mortal; your foolishness has imperiled your people. Nay, you have risked your very souls." He began to reach back for his sword and grasped the handle to draw it from its scabbard. The sound at the drawing of His weapon rang like the finest crystal and shimmered across the clearing.

As I came up behind Asgaroth, I discovered that I barely came up to his waist even balanced as I was on the top of my staff. I had realised He was massive, but now I had a much closer perspective and I began to realize what massive really meant.

"Hiding behind Asgaroth will not help you, when we have finished with the Godling we will deal with you. You have betrayed us for the last time." She snarled at me, but I wasn't backing down, and I certainly wasn't since she'd just called me a coward.

As she finished speaking my wrist snapped forward and released a spinning silver blur of steel that headed towards her throat. Of course as the blade came into her range her own hand flashed out and caught it between her fingertips. "Hah nice try, but you're a hundred years too soon for that to have worked, foolish child."

"It was worth a try, and it stopped you talking drivel. That's always been your major failing First, you talk too much."

"Your death could have been quick, for all of your service to the people. But you have just earned yourself a painful and protracted death."

"Ahem, you must deal with me first, and I do not think it will be something you will survive." His tone dripped sarcasm as He eyed the small group of elders.

"Ah did you think we'd forgotten you? Your time to pass has come. You have destroyed our nation, killed our children and hounded us for a thousand years. Now it is time for payback, you will suffer as we did." The human face never looks quite as unattractive as when it is mottled with rage. I had seen her battle aura before and it was usually a golden color, but now it had a black tinge that spoke of corruption. If looks could destroy I felt that the valley and all that lay in it would be a smoking ruin.

"And you believe that? Fools! I defended myself, from a people whom I had protected and guided for thousands of years. They could not kill me with all their power, and neither can you. You believe that pitiful amount of power you've gathered will suffice to defeat me?"

Asgaroth watched as the Elders scurried into positions at equidistant points around him. Each of the old women raised their staffs over their heads, then First screamed the words of an incantation at the sky. Energy like black lightning crackled along the lengths of each staff and then burst forth from each staff to form a crude pentagram of energy that surrounded both the God and myself. The tall figure at the center of the maelstrom began to assess the powerful spell, looking for a weak spot where He could break out. After about five seconds he realized he could break it with ease, but the more pressure he applied the more energy they would have to put into restraining him. If there was one thing He knew, it was that the more energy that He was able to leach from the portals the sooner they would close, and the safer they would all be.

Asgaroth started to shrug aside the elders restraining field even as he swung his massive blade towards Firsts staff.

"Bwa-ha-ha you have fallen for..." She uttered a surprised yelp as the blade passed not through her staff as she'd planned but through the stream of energy. Had it been wielded by a mortal they would have been a shriveled husk, as it was the blade screamed as if in agony and was pushed slightly aside. Third speaker had barely a second to see the deflected stream of energy tear towards her before it engulfed her and destroyed her totally. The resulting explosion threw everyone within a hundred yards, except Asgaroth, off their feet. I dusted off my robe as I picked myself up from the ground and turned to face the Elders as they began to pick themselves up also. I took the only chance I had; I threw my second knife towards the First speaker. Her head snapped up and met my eyes as she realized I was once again attacking her, this time her hands were not as fast and her head snapped back with my blade buried in the centre of her forehead. In my hurry to end the conflict I learned the folly of rushing in where Angels and indeed Gods feared to tread. First speaker had been the focus of the energy they had drawn from their blood sacrifice. Without her the power went rogue and began to lash out at everything around us leaving smoking corpses where once had stood proud warriors, trees vanished in smoking ruin. One lance of power carved a ravine in the mountain under which we sheltered; and the world seemed to shake as the power continued to discharge.

It was certainly an education to hear a God blaspheme; as He cursed the fates that put Him as the sole entity capable of dealing with the energy backlash; right in the centre of the explosion. The blade he held crashed into the turf as He changed the focus of His attention to the taming of the dark energy. The strain was visible in His face, even though the power wasn't that great in comparison to His own, it was the taint that came with it. The golden armour he wore started to change; blackness entered the metal, dulling it to the point that the once proud scenes of war now seemed oppressive. As the struggle continued smoke began to rise from Asgaroth and heat emanated from His armour, forcing me to back away. Still the earth shook making each step I took a gamble as to whether I'd remain on my feet or not. Gradually I could feel the energy diminish, until the earth stopped its ominous rumble, the sky returned to the deep azure it had been before my foolish action. Most importantly from my point of view was the fact that I was now the centre of His attention.

"Fool! You nearly managed to unmake me. As it is I am tainted!"

"I'm sorry, I did not know." I shook with fear as I began to comprehend what He meant. In retrospect 'sorry' just didn't seem to cut it. Too late to edit my words now, my only excuse was that I was young a mere eighty-five summers.

"SORRY? YOU'RE SORRY?" I now know it was the taint talking through Him but the next words out of His mouth could not be taken back. They were a curse, a promise of intent; a contract between mortal and God, and as such there are rules. "You shall be sorry. As you have cursed the members of your council so too do I curse you! When they come back to haunt your people you shall be there, death shall be no barrier, life shall not save you. You shall be reborn again and again until your debts to your people are paid. You shall remember everything, where others are given blessed oblivion in rebirth you shall remember. You will know why you have been reborn; you will know why you are your people's saviour, and you will know why you are your people's bane."

I stood in stunned silence, I was the good guy. Wasn't I? What had I truly done to warrant such a curse? My thoughts were not to continue as three bolts of lightning struck the ground near us, one to either side of my God and one directly before me. The flash of light was so intense that I had to close my eyes even as the shockwave of sound caused my eardrums to throb and my hair to stream behind me in a non existent breeze.

"Mortal." I opened my still watering eyes to behold a young woman, at least so I thought until I looked into Her eyes and gained an idea what infinity must mean. She stood not much taller than I when perched atop my staff. Her black hair brushed the ground behind her, black doesn't even begin to describe the colour of her hair, it was like I was looking into a portal that opened onto the depths of space for in those silken tresses seemed to be the twinkle of stars held deep within. Her skin was the shade of purest alabaster, no blemish was visible to me, and as she wore no clothes I could see that she was a perfect woman. She was what the tribe aspired to be, and never could be. Her eyes were the same blackness as her hair; they seemed to go on forever. Then she drew me back to reality.

"Mortal. My son feels great pain; he is not the same as he once was. Your action has changed him and I fear it will be a long time before He returns to what He once was. For this, the curse he has uttered upon you shall stand. Your people may go in safety; His vendetta against you is now ended. This I tell you, and so it will come to pass."

"Who? Who are you?" They were the only words I was able to utter as She turned to walk towards Her son. She slowly turned back to me.

"I?" She quirked a finely shaped eyebrow at me. "I have no name; those who have need of Me simply call me Mother, for that is what I am." She turned away and made her way back to the others who were restraining Asgaroth. When She came before him She tenderly reached forth Her hand and caressed His face. "Come my children, it is time to leave this plane of existence." Where before three bolts of lightning had descended, four would ascend.

-Intermission-

So it came to pass that my people survived the hunt of Asgaroth, though not without scars. We became an insular people, never again would we wish to be a part of the outside world. Though the outside world would take a very long time to take the hint so to speak.

Then there was also the fact that we had seen Her, She would come to influence many of the decisions of the council over the next few centuries. That was when we became a true matriarchy. Until that time it had only been a matter of there not being any males left alive that were experienced or capable enough to take a place on the Council of Elders. Afterwards we decided that many of the problems had started because of blind male arrogance and pride, we deemed it best to change and over time the rules of Amazon existence came to be written.

As time passed we attempted to return to the site of our village. Now that the Gods were no longer a danger to us, well no more than they were to any other mortal that is. We deemed it safe to rebuild our homes in the light of day. We learned much that day, for when we came over the final rise we saw stretched before us a valley that had changed vastly. A God had come to earth there, and as such it was now a holy place, later we would come to call it the 'Springs of Sorrow' or Jhusenkyou. After the springs claimed their first human victims we deemed it wise to move our homes once again, and ever since, for the entirety of our three thousand years of existence, the Amazons have called the small village in the Qing Hai Mountains our home.

As for me, I lived another thirty years. Then I died. It was not the ending it should have been, it was merely the beginning.

So say I, Khu Lon, Matriarch of the Amazon nation.

A/N I hope everyone liked this, it's only the first chapter in a three or four lifetime series, so it could get rather large, but that's what makes this kind of writing fun for me. The problem is that it's going to slow my other writing down. I had to release this now though as it ties in with the 'Phoenix Ascension' story arc

None of the Amazon techniques exist at the time I am writing about and that's why none of them were used. Check back later, I'm sure they'll be showing up. Lol.

Some people are going to point out that the spring of drowned girl was created 1500 years ago according to the manga, well this is my version, and I say the Jhusenkyou guide has a corrupted version of the spring's history. Probably given to him by one of the tribes around the spring so that not too much would be exposed about the springs.


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